Difficilis Iudicii

II

The sunlight flooded my room and stung my eyes. I rolled oft of my bed and quickly got dressed putting on a red gown with black lace. My hair had regained it curly texture and I just tied it half up and left the rest down. I grabbed a pair of boots and headed to the forest. The sky was a bright amber color with grey clouds scattered about, and the air was warm and inviting. I followed the trail that led to my secret bench by the old oak tree. When I finally got there I checked to see if anyone was around. "The coast is clear" I said to myself. I ran to the base of the tree and stepped on the bench to be able to reach a branch to pull myself up. I scaled the tree and rested on a wide branch. I could see the entire grounds of the home ."Home for the unique" I whispered. "It's a shame you aren't unique" a voice said startling me. I lost my footing and fell hitting branches on the way down. I landed on the ground with a thud my body sending sensations of pain. I lifted my head off the ground and saw jewel. She smiled at me with a sinister look in her eyes. "Jewel you scared me" I said getting up off the ground. Her smile disappeared quickly "Its not Jewel you dumb bitch" she snapped. I quickly realized that I was talking to Carrie, her other personality. DID is her "amazing" disease. she loves having it while the others hate it and her. I stepped towards her threateningly and she smiled again. "You're a bold one Dia" she said. Our quarrel was interrupted by the ringing of the bell. "What does the headmistress want now?" I said to myself. when we entered the house everyone was going into the living space and the headmistress was standing in the middle."Listen up everyone we've just gotten another psych" the headmistress said. Groans, sighs, and complaints could be heard all through the room. The headmistress hushed everyone and a man stepped out from behind her. He was a tall slender looking man with dark raven hair and steely grey eyes. He wore a black suit and glasses. "Hello everyone my name is doctor Stark" he gave a small nod and continued his introduction. "I've heard this group is a tough one but I'll try my hardest to cure you of your afflictions" No one looked interested as we've had many psychs come and go all claiming the same thing. I looked around the room to see everyone's reaction. Malum was looking at the ceiling uninterested, Jewel was twirling her hair staring at the doctor with a innocent look on her face, and Isabel was sitting down staring at her hands while twirling her thumbs nervously. I walked over to her slowly as not to startle her. "Isabel?" I said softly. Her head snapped up at me a slight look of alarm on her face but it soon left as she saw it was only me. "Oh hello Dia. Do you need something?" She replied quickly. Isabel was a sweet girl. Her anxiety always got the best of her and to top it all off she had major PTSD from an incident with her husband. "Did you take your sedatives this morning?" I asked her clearly knowing she didn't by her fidgeting. "Yes" she lied. I sighed and was about to ask her again but I was interrupted by Malum walking towards us. "What do you want?" I snapped. He ignored me and advanced towards Isabel. She noticed this and her eyes began to flicker between me and Malum and look of confusion and fear on her face. She shifted back in her seat when he came close to her. "Come with me Isabel." Malum said in a soft tone. She didn't reply and looked at the ground her hands tapping nervously on her chair. "Leave her alone Malum" I said as I stood defensively next to Isabel. "Shut up Dia" he
snapped back. He looked back to Isabel and grabbed her hand softly and tilted her face to look to his. She flinched at his touch and tried to back away but malum kept a slight grip on her hand. "Isabel I'm not going to hurt you just come with me." He said sincerely. Something didn't seem right. I looked at Malum then to Isabel. Her look of fear was now replaced with confusion but she got up and went with malum out of the room. I went to follow them but I was stopped by the doctor. "You're Dia right? Come with me our first session starts right now"

Isabel's p.o.v.
Malum led me out of the room holding my hand. I was getting more and more anxious the longer he touched me. "Malum can you please let go of me." I said clearly feeling uneasy. He looked confused but then realized he was holding my hand still. "Oh I'm sorry I forgot" he said quickly letting go. I put my hands together and twirled my thumbs trying to distract myself from the memories that were resurfaced by his touch. My head was pounding and my heart was racing.
MEMORY
"ISABEL WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID" David yelled as he struck me. My cheek burned and was throbbing. Tears were streaming down my face. " I-I'm sorry David I didn't mean to op-" I was cut off by another hit which made my lip bleed. "Pl-please David stop.." I said out of breath.
END OF MEMORY
I snapped out of it and found myself huddled in the corner cowering in fear. I quickly looked around and realized where I was. Malum was standing on the other side of the hall watching. "I'm sorry I-" he cut me off. "What did he do to you" he said bluntly. This caught me off guard and I began to stutter.  "N-Nothing- David L-loves me he didn't mean to- nothing" Malum walked over to me his hand reaching out. I flinched at his sudden movement. He wiped away tears that were on my face. "What are you doing" I said nervously "what do you want?" He looked at me with a blank expression. I started to get nervous again. I shouldn't have came with him, everyone knows he's trouble. "M-Malum I want to go back to the living space with everyone" I said looking at the ground. "No" he replied bluntly. My eyes flickered from Malum to the door he was blocking. "Malum please I don't want to be here" I begged. "I said No" he replied again. Tears began to form In my eyes and my throat began to feel tight. "Look at me" he said demandingly. I kept looking at the ground. "Now Isabel" he said more threateningly this time. I looked up at him and his face was blank. He looked into my eyes and his expression changed from blank to concerned. "I'm not going to hurt you Isabel" he said softly.
Dias p.o.v
"Same time again tomorrow Dia?" Doctor Stark said as I opened the door. "Sure thing Doc" I said and left. I looked everywhere for Isabel. I was worried about her especially with Malum. The only room left was the garden room. I rushed to get there and I saw Malum. He was standing by the roses. I was about to ask his what he did to Isabel and then I heard something. Someone was singing? I crept behind the other flowers to get a better look at what was happening. I saw Malum looking at Isabel with a smile on his face. Disbelief was very apparent on my face. I continued to watch and saw that Isabel was singing her voice soft and quiet. She was facing away from Malum clearly nervous. She finished singing and Malum began to speak. "You need to loosen up Isabel you know I'm not going to hurt you" he said convincingly. Isabel flinched at his touch when he tried to grab her hand. "I-I'm sorry" she replied looking at him then quickly looking at the ground. A look of anger replaced his smile. "Stop flinching" he snapped. She flinched again at his tone. "I said stop flinching" he said this time grabbing Isabel by the wrist hard. He pulled her up from the ground and forced her to look up at him. A menacing smile crept onto his face. He backed her up to the oak tree and her back hit the trunk hard. I went to get up and then I started to have a hallucination. No no not right now. I could hear Isabel begging Malum to stop. "M-Malum I'm sorry please don't hit me" she said her voice sad and scared. Her voice repeated in my mind and began to manifest itself into another of my "demons". A manacle laugh rang in my ears and I could see blood dribbling from the flowers around me, then I blacked out...